Sligo
With a much smaller population than either County Galway or County Mayo, the two dominant forces in the province, together with competing interests of soccer in the county's capital town, Sligo has never been able to break free of the shackles inherent in the provincial championship format and has a paltry three Connacht championships to its name (1928, 1975 and 2007). In 1922 Sligo defeated Galway in the Connacht Final (played in 1923) and subsequently defeated Tipperary to qualify for the All-Ireland Final. However a Galway objection forced the Connacht decider to be replayed, which Sligo lost. The same fate occurred in the inaugural National Football League campaign of 1926, Sligo beat Laois to reach the final, but Laois objected and won the replay, making Sligo unique in having qualified for All-Ireland and National League finals, but never having contested either. Since the introduction of the "back-door" system in the All Ireland championship in 2001, Sligo football has enjoyed noteworthy if modest success. The new format together with a prolonged period of competing in Division 1 of the national league saw an upward turn in the county's fortunes. In 2002, having narrowly lost the Connacht final to then All-Ireland Champions Galway, Sligo went on to defeat Tyrone in Croke Park turning over a seven point deficit in one of the matches of the decade. A similar comeback against eventual All-Ireland champions Armagh two weeks later set the county and the championship alive and after Sligo had legitimate claims for a penalty in injury time of the replay turned down, Armagh went on to win the 2002 championship. Despite its poor historical record, the new championship format has seen Sligo achieve the status of respectability on the national stage in the past decade with improvement noticeable across all grades in the county. On 8 July 2007, Sligo won the Connacht Senior Football Championship following a one point victory over Galway. This was their first time to win the Championship since 1975. The county Vocational Schools team have made it to two All Irelands finals in 1962 and 1963 but lost both to Dublin City Four Sligo players have won All-Stars - Mickey Kearins 1 (1971 - St. Pats), Niall Harte 2 (1974 - St. Mary's), Eamonn O'Hara (2002 - Tourlestrane), Charlie Harrison (2010 - St. Johns) Sligo club football is not dominated by any single team with no back to back winners since St. Patrick's achieved that feat in 1988-1989. Players 1 Philip Greene Goalkeeper St. John's 2 Charlie Harrison Right Corner Back St. John's 3 Noel McGuire Full Back Easkey 4 Ross Donovan Left Corner Back Eastern Harps 5 Paul McGovern Right Half Back Eastern Harps 6 Brian Kennedy Centre Back Tourlestrane 7 Neil Ewing Left Half Back Drumcliffe/Rosses Point 8 Eamonn O’Hara Midfield Tourlestrane 9 Stephen Gilmartin Midfield Tubbercurry 10 Brendan Egan Right Half Forward Tourlestrane 11 Mark Breheny Centre Forward St. Mary's 12 David Rooney Left Half Forward St. John's 13 Stephen Coen Right Corner Forward St. Mary's 14 Tony Taylor Full Forward Eastern Harps 15 Adrian Marren Left Corner Forward Curry Cups Football Honors Connacht Senior Football Championship: 3 - 1928, 1975, 2007 Connacht Junior Football Championship: 9 - 1926, 1928, 1935, 1956, 1973, 1998, 2005, 2010, 2011 Connacht Minor Football Championship: 2 - 1949, 1968. All-Ireland Junior Football Championship: 2 - 1935, 2010 All Stars: 4 Mickey Kearns: 1971 Barnes Murphy: 1974 Eamonn O'Hara: 2002 Charlie Harrison: 2010